Festival Of The Sea
by twiistedfantasy
Summary: Today was July 30th. In District 4, this is usually the start day of Festivál tis Thálassas which in Greek means Festival of the Sea. It's a special 2-day holiday organized by the Mayor of Distict 4...
1. Chapter 1

Today was July 30th. In District 4, this is usually the start day of Festivál tis Thálassas which in Greek means Festival of the Sea. It's a special 2-day holiday organized by the Mayor of District 4 and some of the board members each year to celebrate the value of our land and how 'grateful' we are. It's a pretty enjoyable celebration filled with carnival games, fun houses and haunted houses, some rides here and there, and face painting. Most citizens of District 4 my age volunteer to help out with setting things up or actually running the games for the duration of the festival. This year, I volunteered with face painting with Annie. Even though she doesn't know it yet, I want her to be with me just in case. All those people dressed in costumes, the loud noises, and strange sights might bring her into a flashback or something and I want her to be safe with me.

"Finnick" I hear a beautiful voice ring beside me on Annie and mine's plush bed ring in my ear. "Finnick wake up, guess what today is!" The voice pauses and waits for me to open my eyes. I smile wide and keep them closed and make snoring noises. Annie laughs and smacks my shoulder. "Finnick! Wake up!" I hear a smile in her voice.

"5 more minutes!" I try to whine dramatically like a child but fail epically and chuckle into my cloud-like pillow.

"Finnick! Today is the Festival! Come on get up! I wanna go!" She says as I feel the bed begin to bounce underneath me. Annie is so excited, I've never seen her so excited and jumpy like this before. This side of her is so cutely childish and adorable. I didn't even think she'd be excited in the first place. I open my eyes and turn over to face her. Her dark gorgeous brown hair is slightly tousled from the night's sleep and she's just her natural self. She is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I smile up at her as she sits staring down at me laying there.

"Okay okay, we'll go. Get dressed, get ready, do whatever you need to do and we'll leave as soon as you're all set, babe." I say, stretching my hands behind my head and draw out my legs out under the blankets. Annie runs her fingers through her hair as she contemplates what I just said. "I'm ready right now." She says, smiling evilly. I laugh because even though she's attempting to look sly, she looks more like a kitten trying to be like a tiger. It's endearing.

"Ha-ha, nice try. If we go in the way you're dressed right now…" I shake my head, looking over her white, silk nightgown and imagining all the hormone-fueled teenage boys at the festival and all the other men with eyes who will be staring at Annie, thinking about what they want to do with her. What they think she'll do to them. How they think they'll be with her after they don't know anything what she's been through and how fragile she is. How they build fantasies and _how I'll want to kill them just like I killed all those other people._ I grimace and close my eyes. I don't want to kill anyone. I had to kill those people or I'd be dead. I feel the rage build up inside me. Stop thinking about it! It's not going to happen, she was joking! _How I'll want to kill them. I'll want to kill them. Kill them. _My hands ball up into fists.

"Finnick" Annie's voice grows concerned. I could only imagine her face now; so sweet and curious. "Finnick, are you okay?" she puts her hand on my back. "Finnick calm down, whatever it is, it's okay." She says all child-like emotion drained from her voice trying to calm me down. _You always ruin it, Finnick. You ruin all her fun. Why is she even with you? You should've stayed at the Capitol. She doesn't need this. _The disgusting voice in my head scowled. I force my eyes open and stare at Annie's face. Don't listen, don't listen. I grabbed Annie's hands and brought it to my face. I kissed her hand to try and bring me back to this delightful moment we had just moments before.

"I'm fine." I force a smile and tried to believe it myself. "I'm really fine." I nod and hope that was convincing. "Go get ready; we have a _festival_ to get to for crying out loud! I signed us up for volunteer! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" I shout clapping my hands for emphasis. Annie laughs nervously as if not sure how to take in my serious mood-swing there. She jumps out of the bed runs to the dresser to get and outfit ready.

I slowly get out of bed and bring myself to the shower. I smoothly slide open the glass doors to our shower and reach for the handle. I clutch the silver handle and crank it all the way to the hot side. There's nothing like the calming effects of a steaming hot shower. I slip off my checkered boxers and jump into the shower. I feel instantly relieved as the water washes over me. Half way through my shower, I hear Annie talking. Who is she talking to? The talking goes on all throughout the shower. I hear it as I wash my hair and I get extremely curious. I finish off in the shower; wrap a towel around my waist and go over to see what Annie is doing. It's not like she hasn't done it before. She talks to a lot of things; Shoelaces, the hair on her head, and other various inanimate objects. I look to see her back turned to face me as she sits dressed and all ready to go on our bed, waiting for me to finish. I creep up slowly as she says "Just because you're little, doesn't mean you don't have feelings, little guy." I cock my head to the side, and water drips down from my hair and descends down my face. I wipe it away and listen in closer. "I mean, you must feel really bad. Everyone thinks you're creepy and they just swat at you to try and _kill you, _and all you're doing is trying to make a nice home!" she coos. "And it's not like _you_ bother _them_. You're just a little spider."

"Annie?" I ask out into the open. Annie jumps slightly on the bed, surprised, she says "Finnick! I didn't know you where here… I was just-"

"It's okay Annie," I sigh. Annie walks over to the open window and leads the spider out. "Go little buddy, go free." Then her voice lowers to a whisper "Don't listen to Finnick, he's just a big baby. For some reason _he's _scared of _you!_" she giggles and gently places the spider on the window sill. "Okay Finnick, it's gone. You don't have to be scared anymore."

"Oh yes, of course. I was scared." I say sarcastically, roll my eyes, and stroll over to the dresser containing my clothing. "Hmm, what to wear…" I pick through the drawer, just to humor Annie.

"Hurry up, slow-poke!" Annie says jokingly, throwing her hands up and walking out the door. "Or I'll go without you!" 

"Okay! I'm hurrying!" I pick up a blue t-shirt with the logo _Abercrombie & Fitch_ on it and pull it over my head, with my hair still wet. Then I reach and snatch some plaid white and blue shorts on the floor and put them on. I join Annie at the door, grab her hand and we both walk out together.


	2. Chapter 2

I knew that we were close when we could hear the booming music radiating off the rides and attractions of the festival.  
>"so you were talking about volunteering for something earlier..." Annie says curiously as she looks at my face expectantly, waiting for an answer.<br>"I took up the last two spots available for face-painting." I tell her, watching the busqers as they perform on the streets, still holding her hand.  
>"Face-painting?" she says happily, her voice raising an octave in excitement. Shocked by her abrupt delight, I turn my head to look at her.<br>"Yes, face-painting," I confirm, a real smile assaulting my face in the best way. We run to the entrance to try and beat the big line of people that's for forming. Even though we don't have to because as soon as we get there, the girls swoon and back out of the way. Annie didn't seem to like that too much but use my status to full advantage. When I get to the gate all I have to say, if at all because most of  
>them know me.<br>"Finnick and Annie Odair. Face-painting." they nod their heads and  
>open the gate without question. I turn to Annie and wink.<br>"Don't worry, Finnick got this." but Annie just rolls her eyes and hides her anger just as she usually does. I can tell though. I've been with her long enough to know that when she gets that slight blush in her cheeks, her mouth goes in a straight line, and she tries to act the same happiness she had before, that she's angry.  
>"I love you Annie, no matter what things are going through your mind. My heart only belongs to you." I reassure, walking through the entrance and into the long strip of town that is the festival. Two petite blondes with radiant blue eyes perk up when we walk through and are about to greet us cheerfully but then when they know who it is, they freeze for a moment.<br>"Finnick! Welcome to the festival!" one of the blondes say as she punches my playfully on the arm as if she knew me forever.  
>"Thank you." I say charismatically, and then turn to Annie who is growing<br>more upset by the minute.  
>"Do you want to go check out some things before we head off to face- painting?" I ask her, trying to look into her eyes but I'm sure she doesn't want to look into mine.<br>"I don't care" she mumbles sourly, looking away. "I've never even been  
>to a carnival anyways."<br>"Okay then I'll take you somewhere," I say, attempting to get her previous happiness back. "Come"  
>I take Annie and walk through ignoring the adoring crowd and bring her to the oh-so-famous fishing game here. They set up a small pool with some of the hardest fish to catch here in 4. They put in the blue tilapia, some carp and tarpons. You get the biggest stuffed animal if you catch the blue tilapia because it's supposedly the hardest to catch. Eyeing Annie, I see her light up when she sees the game. It's one of her two favorite things in the world; marine biology and staying sane as she told me. I also see a grin of doubt and curiosity flash on her face as she thinks of how I'll ever be able to catch the blue tilapia. Little does she know I've been practicing quite a lot.<br>"You think you're gonna catch the blue tilapia don't you?" she says as she arcs her eyebrow and puts one of her hands on her hip.  
>"No." I say, matter of factly "I know I'm going to catch it and win one of those huuuuge plush animals all for myself." I laugh and stand to wait in line.<br>"You can't have it all to yourself if you don't win it in the first place. You can't catch it. It's impossible! Even the best fishers can't!" she tries to reason.  
>"Challenge accepted." I wink and grab a rod lying against one of the wooden posts. I dig in the pocket of my shorts and pull out a 10 dollar bill.<p>

The game tender takes it and asks. "$10 for 3 minutes?"  
>"Yes sir." I reply and get the rod ready. I remind myself that the tilapias are mostly grass eaters so I pick up a special weed placed in one of the tackle boxes and slip it on the hook.<br>"Alright you get 3 minutes to catch the fish, good luck!" he says, punching the button to start the timer.  
>I drop the line into the water and wait for the tilapia to come. I watch as the carp passes by, contemplating whether or not to bite it. The carp swims away and I see the tilapia lurking elusively by the hook. <em>Come on, come on<em>. I will the fish with my mind. I feel a tug on my rod and as I predicted, it was a small blue tilapia fish they put in there. The tender pushes a different button and the sirens sound.  
>"Winner! We have a winner!" he says and picks a plush fish down from off the ceiling and hands it over to me.<p>

"Thanks" I smile and walk away, watching Annie's eyes practically fall out of her head in shock.  
>"Here," I say, giving her the plush fish she was eyeing. "I told you I could catch it." I tell her as we walk away from the booth.<br>"You're the best, blah blah blah." she rolls her eyes again. I stop mid-walk beside the fun house full of loud music, clowns and mirrors. I think briefly of how scary that place would be for Annie and how I should make this conversation quick before she notices it. I snap out of my thoughts and turn to face Annie square on. I grab her shoulders so she can't turn away.  
>"Annie, what's the problem?" I ask, ignoring the stares of strangers and awed girls.<br>"Them!" she says, reaching up and pulling at her hair like she slays  
>does when she's frustrated. "All of them! Finnick! How am I supposed<br>to deal with all these girls staring at you and flirting with you?"  
>"What?" I ask, my grip on her shoulders loosening. What does she mean 'how am I supposed to deal with it?' she's supposed to know that I love her more than anything! Doesn't she trust me?<br>"Don't act like you don't see it." she says sourly.  
>"Annie, you're the only one I see." I move my hand from her shoulder to cup her face. "The only one."<br>"Okay. Just don't do it anymore." she sighs "we have to go to our booth before we get in trouble for not being there."  
>"No worries" I say turning her around "the booth is right there"<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

"the booth is right there" I turn around, letting go of her shoulders and point to our small little wooden booth. It was just a little wooden box with a sign on the front and little stools at the side for the children to sit in while they get their faces painted. I reached down and grabbed Annie's hand, leading her toward the station. I could tell by the way her hand didn't quite hold mine that she still wasn't too happy with me. We sat next to each other on the uncomfortable stools and in no time, people of all ages started lining up. First in line was a little child, maybe he was about 4 or 5. He had red hair, blue eyes and a smile that was missing it's two front teeth.

"Can I pwease have a Spwida Man face paint?" He asks cutely as he slips $2 onto the desk.

"Of course little guy." Annie says, taking the two dollars and stuffing it into the little box that was placed on the side to contain all the proceeds. She walks around to the side with him to where the paint is, leaving me in charge of the front desk. I was wondering how it'd look like when Annie was finished. We had no stencils, but it wasn't like Annie needed them. She was born with the talent to do… pretty much everything perfectly if she tries hard enough. It was me who was artistically impaired.

"Can I have a painting?" Says an unnatural blonde, leaning provocatively against the wooden box-desk and smirking slyly.

" Sure thing, what do you want?" I ask, instantly regretting my choice of words.

"Oh Finnick, I want a lot of things. But for now, I'll settle for a little heart on my cheek." She winks and adds "And maybe some kisses too."

"Ha-ha," I chuckle "I'm sorry but I came here with my Annie and I won't be kissing anyone but her." I say motioning towards where Annie went off.

"There's no one there, silly." She says, her fingers trailing along the box. I instantly snap my head warily back to Annie's spot.

"What? Annie!" I shout and bound out the poor little stool. There are so many unsafe and scary places for her to trail off to without me there to bring her back. I flip a sign on the desk indicating that I am taking a _break_, and run off in search of Annie. "Annie?" I shout out into the open festival area, people walking to places and playing games turning around to stare at me curiously. I don't care who looks at me and thinks I'm crazy, my Annie is gone! "Annie, answer me! Where are you!" I shout and then someone turns around.

"You lookin' for that girl of yours?" A guy wearing a shark hat says with a Southern accent, sounding like he's from District 10. I nod my head furiously then he continues. "Yeah, I saw her not too long ago, you see. I saw her; she was runnin' into that Funhouse over there. Pullin' out her hair she was." Then I get a horrible, horrible feeling. "And y'all better find her quick 'cuz she was screamin' and yellin' like she was gettin' murdered. Yer' there girl is crazy."

"She's not crazy, but thanks for your help!" I shout, already turning around, backtracking towards our booth. I get a horrible, horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. _Annie in the Funhouse. _So many loud noises, flashing lights, distorted mirrors and such, she's bound to lose it in there. I make it to our booth, and I see the wave of unhappy customers but I zoom right past them, plowing into the funhouse.

"Ticket." The man at the entrance says, holding out his hand, waiting for a ticket.

"My…" I start out of breath. "Annie's in there and I need to get her! She's going to lose it! Please, let me in!" I pant, the pent up energy aching in my limbs.

"Dude, you need a ticket." He pushes, prompting me to hand him a ticket. Ignoring his outstretched hand, I quickly ram through him and a whole bunch of other people, landing myself in the middle of the funhouse. I listen intently for anything that sounds like Annie, but I can barely hear anything. I can hear screams, but for all I know, it's the laughter of people looking at themselves in distorted mirrors. I hear cries but it could be just random babies or people crying of laughter. Also, the music drowns out a lot of the quiet noises. It would drown out the whimpers of agony Annie makes when she's going through flashbacks and the voices.

"Annie!" I scream over and over until my throat begins to burn and my lungs ache. Running through mazes and twisty staircases, I can't find her anywhere. I jump over chains of loops and rotating steps and stop when I see a door with a sign on it. _Enter at your own risk. _Is written on a sign in goofy letters, then under it, it says in smaller, less goofy letters _People with epilepsy are discouraged from entering room as the bright colors and flashing lights may trigger seizures. _I cautiously the door to a dark room with a bridge across it. I take another look and see that this room isn't really that dark, there are spinning lights and frightening noises. From the outside, it looks like a bridge surrounded by a spinning tunnel with nothing else out of the ordinary, but as soon as you set foot inside, it's as if the whole world is slanting and you have to fight to stay on your feet. I attempt to walk through it as calmly as I can when I trip over something on the floor. A closer look shows that this 'something' is not really a 'something'. It is a person, crouched over on the floor with her hands in her hair. I automatically know it's Annie.

I put my arms around her and she flinches away but I reassure her before she assumes I'm someone trying to kill her. "Annie! Annie, Annie! It's okay, it's okay. I'm here, it's me Finnick." I grip her more tightly and pick her up. Concentrating on the floor, I was able to walk out of the tunnel without falling over. I carry her all the way out of the funhouse and outside where the line was forming to go into the funhouse. Even though my ears were still ringing from the loud noise, and my eyes hurt from all the lights and colours, I was able to hear her crying and whimpering against my chest.

"Annie, Annie it's okay." I whisper into her ear, hoping maybe she could hear me. "Annie you're safe, you're okay. Nothing bad is going to happen, I'm here." Her body vibrates and quivers with what I assume is fear in reply to my words. I set her down on the side where no one could see us and no one would come by. I join her and wrap her in my arms. "Annie, everything is okay. You're safe." I stay like that with my arms around her and her breathing calms down as well as the sobs and screams. "Annie?" I ask, arching my neck and leaning in to look at her face.

"F-Finnick." She sputters out nervously, her hands suddenly gripping hard against me as if trying to cling onto reality. "Finnick, I'm sorry I ran. I just- You were- then she was-" She tries to explain but I wave my hand, motioning her to stop.

"I wish there was something I could do to make this go away. I'd deal with it forever as long as you didn't have to." I say, not realizing the tears rolling down my face until Annie reaches up and touches my cheek.

"I made you cry. I ruin everything! Why did you ever love me, Finnick? Why do you love me? I'm a mental girl! CRAZY!" she blubbered. "You could have anyone else, anyone better than me, yet you choose to stay with me. Why?"

"Annie, you're everything I've ever wanted, I love you. I always have, and I always will no matter what happens. I don't notice these things like you do about these girls 'flirting' with me because I only see you. No one else matters to me but you. You are my whole entire life, Annie. You're my everything. You're golden to me." I try and explain my love but it seems impossible. It cannot be put into words. "And there's nothing you can do to make me change my mind."

"Really?" She asks, her eyes still red and her hair all messy from trying to rip it out.

"Yes. Now, are you okay? What happened in there? Why of all places would you go into the funhouse? Why wouldn't you come to me?"

"I- I just don't know Finnick. You know how I get, I just lose control and something else inside me takes over and I can't control it! The voices tell me weird things and they can be very convincing."

"But are you okay?" I ask, lifting my hands and stroking her face and trailing my fingers along her features which looks like she scratched a couple times.

"I'm okay now." She responds, nuzzling her face into my chest. I place my hand on her head and stroke her hair.

"That's all I needed to hear." I say quietly and think about our little face-painting stand. I swiftly slip my phone out of my pocket and call in some back up to take care of the station.

"What are you doing?" Annie asks. _Darn, she catches everything! Not as smooth as you thought, Finnick._

"Calling in back up for the face-painting stand." I tell her honestly, sliding the phone back into my pocket.

"What? No!" She protests and sits up straight abruptly. "I want to paint, please Finnick, please."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure, I want to paint!" She jumps up and acts as if her freak out didn't really happen. I follow her new happy mood, encouraging happiness so that she continues it. If she wants to forget it, then so will I.


	4. Chapter 4

We spent the rest of the day, painting faces and watching the joys of people running around, playing games and having fun. I tried my best to stop doing whatever Annie was seeing I was doing with other girls and Annie seemed a lot happier. Then when the costumers stopped coming Annie and I had a little fun of our own.

"Finnick?" I hear Annie ask, and I turn my head around earning me a nice streak of paint across my face. I widen my eyes in mock-anger and scrunch my face up in a mad expression.

"Oh, you're gonna get it." I taunt her and pick up a paint brush.

"No!" she shrieks and giggles as she tries to run away but I catch her arm and write '_I 3 Finnick Odair' _ On her arm and then making a face of adoration when I pretend to see it for the first time.

"oh Annie, you shouldn't have!" I say delightedly.

"Well that's nothing, you wrote a fact on my arm." She smiles then attacks me with the paint brushes all over my face. I let her paint to her free will on my face. I closed my eyes and sat like a 'good boy' nice and still on the bench with her standing in front of me, but half way through, I got way too tempted. I reached out and tickled her stomach. She flinched back and giggled.

"Finnick stop!" She laughed and continued to paint my face, but I did it again. "Ahh! Finnick stop!" She cackled against the fits of laughter. "You're making me mess up my master piece!" she complained. I moved to her sides, tickling her there and she dropped to the floor, laughing. "Finnick!" she screams in laughter then I get a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

"Oh my goldfish!" I say, throwing my hands up to my face. "What have you done to my face! My beautiful, glorious face!" She laughs even harder then I continue complaining. "Yeah? Well there goes your income. This is what makes all the money, baby." I motion to my face and wink.

"Not anymore, it doesn't." She giggled sarcastically. Then suddenly an idea presents itself in my head.

"Kiss me" I ask her in my famous seductive purr but she shakes her head _no _violently. "Oh come on, gimme a kiss." I make a kissy face and move towards her.

"Oh NO! NO GET AWAY!" she says, backing up to the edge of the station. But of course, she failed and got a face full of smeared paint.

We played like that for what seemed like hours. Then after when the security told us we had to clean up our station, he almost cracked a smile when he saw our faces. Annie and I both were now colourful blobs of paint. We packed up and headed off, not bothering to wash off our face-paint because we were so beautiful that we had to show off. We walked around all night, hand in hand, forgetting about the terrors and concentrating on the good times. The wind blew through our hair and the sand squished between our toes as we both agreed this would be a festival that we'd never forget.


End file.
